Happy Translator’s Day, my fellow Translators and Interpreters!

On this day, I would like to recognize and commend fellow translators for the work we do and what it requires, and address any layperson’s misconception that a fluent bilingual may as well serve as a qualified translator. That this is not so may be so (painfully) obvious to us, but the confusion persists.

Translation and interpretation are very specific skills which, just like any specialized capability, requires certain cognitive and operational faculties. Some of these are: a quick aptitude for understanding complex and diverse subjects; an analytical mind, and extensive research ability — one has to analyze complex information, deduce what additional information they may need, and identify the resources of where and how to find it.

Translators knows intuitively how to preserve the communicative intent of the source message and recreates that in target language ensuring linguistic and extralinguistic equivalency.

Translation and interpretation are professions where we constantly learn and work to enhance both our understanding of specialized subject matters and our linguistic flexibility and prowess. So, to all those who love, enjoy and embrace this challenging and rewarding profession, KUDOS!